A. No. Severe
illnesses following yellow fever vaccination are rare. By contrast, in
Africa and South America, the World Health Organization estimates that
200,000 cases of yellow fever occur each year. During the same period
when five post-vaccination severe illnesses were reported in travelers,
four unvaccinated European and American travelers died of yellow fever
following travel to South America and West Africa.

Healthcare providers
are encouraged to report cases of febrile illness potentially caused by
yellow fever vaccination to the CDC/FDA Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting
System (VAERS) by
one of the following methods:

Note: Because
local healthcare providers need to be involved in the evaluation, reports
cannot be accepted directly from individual patients.

Q. Are different
brands of the yellow fever vaccine safer than others?

A. To date,
there is no evidence that the two available types of yellow fever vaccine
(17D-204 and 17DD strains) differ in their safety profiles. Rare systemic
reactions have been reported following receipt of each vaccine strain.

Q. If a patient
develops fever or other illness after receiving yellow fever vaccine,
what steps should be taken?

A. If a person
develops an acute febrile illness after receiving yellow fever vaccine,
he/she should be evaluated by a healthcare provider and treated for other
potential causes.

If no other diagnosis
is clearly present, healthcare providers are encouraged to report cases
of febrile illness potentially caused by yellow fever vaccination to the
CDC/FDA Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)
by one of the following methods: